ROYAL OAK — Expanding Michigan’s Medicaid program to offer health care insurance to more than 470,000 low-income residents without any coverage is a “common-sense solution,” Gov. Rick Snyder told an audience at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

The governor was in town Monday as part of an ongoing statewide campaign to drum up more support for the proposal, which commenced after the Republican-led Senate opted not to vote on the expansion before adjourning for the summer on June 20.

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The issue, Snyder told the packed auditorium of health care professionals, was that politics became part of the equation.

Snyder, flanked by Beaumont officials who also offered remarks to the crowd of 300, said: “We need to set all that aside.”

Legislators have received backlash from opponents of the expansion because it’s one of many components that make up President Barack Obama’s federal health care overhaul passed in 2010.

The state House approved a bill on a bipartisan 76-31 vote last month to expand Medicaid eligibility in 2014 for adults making up to 133 percent of the poverty line. After Senate balked on the proposal for the interim, Snyder set out on his lobbying effort for the last two weeks, telling residents to call their senators and ask them to “take a vote, not a vacation.”

Snyder told reporters after the forum he’d like to see a Senate vote on the expansion as early as this month, but Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, had not set a firm date on when legislators would act.

The governor also visited St. Mary’s Hospital in Livonia on Monday morning to promote what he’s dubbed the “Healthy Michigan” initiative.

“The negatives are going to be here under the Affordable Healthcare Act whether we have Healthy Michigan or not,” he said.

The federal government will fund the state’s Medicaid expansion initially when it’s implemented Jan. 1, but will gradually decrease its support to 90 percent by 2020. Republican legislators have fretted about federal funding for the program since the law was passed, contending Congress could scale back support further down the line.

Snyder argues the short-term benefits of expanding the health care program are more palatable than waiting. He said the state could save upwards of $200 million in the next fiscal year by providing coverage to uninsured individuals who now use the hospital’s emergency room for corrective care rather than preventive care, like the flu.

“It’s a terrible answer for these people,” he said.

The governor echoed some of his remarks from a hastily called news conference after Senate dodged a vote on expansion.

He said Michigan residents will be forced to foot a $1.5 billion tab to the federal government in taxes under Obama’s health care overhaul. Hospitals and medical providers would be hit with $800 million in cuts.

One of the ways to offset the costs would be the expansion of Medicaid, he said.

Contact Ryan Felton at 248-745-4654 or ryan.felton@oakpress.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanfelton13.